What is the oldest flashlight you remember having as a kid?

Can I go first here?

My fam used to camp out alot and we had this big red plastic square looking thing with a black rubber button. It had like one metal clip to release the front lens / reflector part to reveal a square looking battery that had two curly springs for the terminals. I can't remember the voltage on the thing but it worked for a pretty long time before it faded out.

The next light I remember ... I think it was a RayoVac and it had a thin tin silver, 2 D cell body and to get it to work, you turn on the switch and then beat it on something until the light came on. I think the bezel and side slide switch was red plastic. It went On and the other option was Off.

Third was an Ever Ready ... I'm pretty sure that's the brand, but it was like all tin / chromish deal with a highly ribbed body with a tail piece that screwed off so you could install 2 D cells in there.. I think that one had a fold out D hook on the end too. Switch was a metal slide on the side. It was a nice looking light for the times.

Fourth was a light my Grandpa had. I can't remember the brand but it was in his garage and was like a 2 D cell, black rubbery body with a greasy plastic yellow bezel and tail piece. The switch was greasy yellow too, but had these magnet bars on each side of the switch so you could plant it on the side of the furnace or locker or something. I guess it worked ok.

I don't really remember any C or smaller cell flashlights ... I don't think they lasted long enough ... this may have been before Alkaline was invented.


Any one else remember some cool old lights?

The flashlight I remember first using as a kid was and old, metal, ill functioning, 2D flashlight, with week cells – all Eveready I believe. (How's that for irony?) I used the flashlight in our first grade play about the solar system. I was the literal and figurative star, the Sun. I probably remember the flashlight because as soon as the class got back from presenting in the auditorium the teacher, Mrs. MacOnarry scolded me in front of the entire class for having such a poor performing flashlight and ruining the play she wrote. (Bye-the-by, anyone remember the planet Pluto?)

Because of the fore mentioned debacle, I vowed to get my own flashlight. Being merely seven years of age, I had to wait till I was eight. During our school field trip to the Zuhrah Shrine Circus, I tried to buy a red and yellow derringer shaped flashlight with the single dollar I had managed to save. The seller said, "Sorry, that's not enough." I asked if he would sell it to me, for a dollar, without batteries. The seller kindly agreed. I hid my prized possession from my family. The following Christmas, I used 2AA batteries from a toy I received, to power my secret flashlight instead. The trigger turned on the light as long as it was squeezed. A few years later, with the batteries depleted, my mom made me sell the toy flashlight in a garage sale. To this day, I wish that I had kept that little flashlight.

I've used some when I was really young, but don't remember the brand or model. Some cheapo lights we got at the zoo for halloween; I was probably 6 years old.

I do remember the Rayovac Rouchnecks from when I was probably in grade school. I still have them and recently found them in some moving boxes:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...-Flashlights&p=4476078&viewfull=1#post4476078

Pretty pathetic lights, but I'm sure they were cool back then!

A black 2c poj with a pumkin head for trick or treat night.

That lead to begging Santa Claus for a 6 volt lantern.

But the one I remember the most was the Mag Lite my pop cracked over my skull as a teenager when I came home drunk after he said "come home drunk again and I'll crack this light over your head"

Didn't feel a thing that night, but I shore had a headache the next day to match the knot. Eh that was a loooooong time ago.

That light still works btw.

We used to get the Eveready lights that were often free with a battery purchase. We weren't allowed to treat them as toys, although we could use them for a reason, like camping. When the batteries went dead, they'd get left around, taken apart by kids, and the parts separated. When Mom cleaned the house, she would keep the random parts, which ended up in a grocery bag in the basement. I'll bet there are still loose Eveready parts floating around their basement today.

Those lights often wouldn't work through two sets of batteries, so I'd imagine that after the first set went dead, we were without a working flashlight until Dad spotted the right deal for the next one. He'll be 91 Saturday, and these days, he takes better care of his lights - probably because at his age, he's more concerned about the possibility of navigating in the dark than he was 60 years ago.

I had a "waterproof" Eveready flashlight. Plastic, with a rubbery switch. It was supposed to float. About the same time, alkaline batteries came out. Turns out that the flashlight, with alkaline batteries, sinks. It's still somewhere at the bottom of our mountain lake. Probably leaking - either in or out...

-jk

an ancient aluminum Rayovac light from the 50's or 60's. Took 2 C or D cells think they were D's. Was very shiny and had a weak incan bulb that only worked half the time even with new cells. NOW fast forward 35 years and I own a non functioning project light that was made in the 1930's. Forgot the brand but know it just needs a new switch somehow. Takes 2 D's and has a thick magnifying lens that should be pretty cool once I can figure out how to get the light to work. Gonna turn it into a high output LED light and keep the cool old school magnifying lens.

Great thread here !

lovecpf


May I suggest:

Every responder should mention their AGE !



My flashlight story is HERE !

( for those who haven't yet seen it )


http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...-first-loved-flashlight&p=1910137#post1910137

I am 41. Began collecting lights in 1996. Thinking back to the early 1980's there was this god awful rectangular Duracell flashlight we had. The beam was atrocious I am trying to remember but I think it took a 9 volt? We got it new and it lasted about a month before it just stopped working. Thinking back as far as I can would be 1978 or 1979 I remember lights then being either shiny aluminum or made of a red or yellow plastic. We had an aluminum one (I think it was also a Rayovac) that had a GIANT refrigerator magnet built into the underside from the switch. That thing actually lasted years I remember being little and there was this big shiny flashlight always stuck to the refrigerator door. My late father served in Korea during that conflict and he kept his Army issue OD green aluminum flashlight I wish I knew where it went as far as I remember it still worked just needed batteries.

Before my 1935 ish project light the oldest light I remember seeing was a very old aluminum thing that when I found it in storage and tried to put new D cells in it the cells that were in it were I believe 1950's issue Rayovacs. I am not even sure they were alkaline they were very heavy and had corroded out a substance that looked like cottage cheese gone very bad. It actually still worked though with new cells. I remember the ultra old style Rayovac labels on the old cells the labels were actually some kind of paper.

Sometime between 1968 and 1970 and I was about 10 years old. My Hanukkah present that year was a Sears Craftsman light. Great big battery and the top was SS with a handle, switch and big head. We lived outside of Albany, NY at the time. It was half suburban and half rural (farms and woods). Got dark early in the winter, cold and snow. I had a lot of fun with that light and my friends thought it was cool. In 1971 we moved to a suburb of New York. Pure suburban with no open spaces and too much light pollution. Stopped using the light and I didn't become a flashaholic until many years later (even though I always liked lights).

I remember the first light I purchased ... I believe it was some time in the early 80s, a Tekna-Lite 2.

Still have it in fact:
http://flic.kr/p/ziQPbE

I was born in 1970, so I was probably 12 or 13 at the time. It was the first flashlight I'd ever seen that was viable underwater, and my brother and I went snorkeling with our flashlights in a lake (he had a MiniMag) one time to see what was under the dock. I found a wallet. . Both lights were incandescent of course, with similar output < 10 lumens.

I just fired up the Tekna for old time's sake, and the beam profile is one big artifact. It has an optic of sorts, which serves to magnify the imperfections in the bulb and in the plastic reflector. Several rings as well.

Batteries rattle terribly :/

Of course it's still running 30+ years later. Drop dead simple twist on UI... One mode, direct drive. Made in the USA. I'll keep it a while longer. In another 30 years perhaps it will be worth something as an antique.

Actually, the oldest was a cheap incandescent pen-light with a three-sided, yellow body, with red lettering from some sort of company.

Posted by LedTed... The flashlight I remember first using as a kid was and old, metal, ill functioning, 2D flashlight, with week cells – all Eveready I believe. (How's that for irony?) I used the flashlight in our first grade play about the solar system. I was the literal and figurative star, the Sun. I probably remember the flashlight because as soon as the class got back from presenting in the auditorium the teacher, Mrs. MacOnarry scolded me in front of the entire class for having such a poor performing flashlight and ruining the play she wrote. (Bye-the-by, anyone remember the planet Pluto?)

Because of the fore mentioned debacle, I vowed to get my own flashlight. Being merely seven years of age, I had to wait till I was eight. During our school field trip to the Zuhrah Shrine Circus, I tried to buy a red and yellow derringer shaped flashlight with the single dollar I had managed to save. The seller said, "Sorry, that's not enough." I asked if he would sell it to me, for a dollar, without batteries. The seller kindly agreed. I hid my prized possession from my family. The following Christmas, I used 2AA batteries from a toy I received, to power my secret flashlight instead. The trigger turned on the light as long as it was squeezed. A few years later, with the batteries depleted, my mom made me sell the toy flashlight in a garage sale. To this day, I wish that I had kept that little flashlight.

Click to expand...

What a heart wrenching story

I hope that someday, you stumble upon that little light at a garage sale.

I don't remember which brand they were, or what they looked like, but in my early life, flashlights were something that you pulled out of a drawer or glove compartment and banged against your palm to try and get to work, and then wondered if it was the batteries or the bulb, or the switch that kept it from working.

The first quality light that I ever saw, was the Army flashlights in early 1972.

Cant remember its brand. But I remember it had a irony body. When I put my hand close to its light, the color of the light changed. It is amazing.
I always hangout with it at night.

The oldest flashlight I myself bought, probably around when I was 10 (c. 1981), was, I believe, a Pelican, all plastic, double AAA. Kept it until I returned home from university (1996).

We had some of those old Eveready thin plastic, double Ds, but even then I was never impressed with them.

Yes, as a kid we had a number of 2D cell lights that we had to bang on the side to get to work. I vaguely remember a grey plastic one with a magnet on the side to hold it to the refrigerator etc. It seems that one was with us for YEARS! We also had a couple of those big head units (perhaps 4-5 inches in diameter) that also had a RED tail light (maybe it blinked, maybe it didn't, I don't recall) that attached to a 6v or 12v screw top battery.

Considering how quickly incandescent flashlights (all there were back then) drained batteries, and toys with bulbs, or motors drained them even more quickly, we always had a bunch of dead, or half dead batteries. We used to put them in a charger, and they would take a little bit of a charge. LOL... charge them overnight and get a few extra minutes out of them. Alkalines took a charge a little better. Eventually we got some actual rechargeables, of course, they didn't hold a charge, (there was no such thing as LSD, they would discharge themselves, and would have to be recharged prior to use.)

We used to play "ZAP" Turn all the lights in the house out, and search for each other in the dark, and then ZAP each other with our ray gun/flashlights.

I think the oldest light I can remember having and using was a lantern that looked like this.
IIRC it used a toggle switch to turn it on and off.

I had a playskool lantern by Fisherprice, that you can change beam color to red or green. I think we still have it in the attic of my parents house.


My parents for my 7th (?) birthday got me a plastic, single AA, no name flashlight that looked like my dream flashlight the mini mag. I carried that light for a few years until it broke and then I got a mini mag. The mini mag stayed with me at all times- I was able to change batteries and bulb of the mini mag in the dark.

Not me personally, but a friend bought one of the early surefire flashlights it was so bright lol but he used it sparingly due to the expensive cr123 batteries.

I'm 30. Earliest one I remember was my dad's. It was a black plastic, 2 D-cell item, with a red plastic insert around the bezel. Rubber side switch.

It was notoriously unreliable.

One night we had a knife-wielding intruder in the house. My dad investigated, armed with a Browing Hi-Power and this damned plastic torch. When he came across the intruder, they stood facing each other, at which point the light decided to switch off. The intruder attacked.

The next week my dad went a bit overboard. Bought a 4 (or 5?) D-cell maglite, and a .44 Mag revolver.

The light because it won't switch off at crucial times, and the revolver because it doesn't have out-of-battery issues when someone is lying on the muzzle.

He eventually gifted that maglite many many years later to a family member that needed it more than we did.

The oldest flashlight i remember having as a kid was a square flashlight with a metal body and a foldable stand in the back that looked something like this